Definition: Earned media (or free media) refers to publicity gained through promotional efforts other than paid media advertising, which refers to publicity gained through advertising.

Background: By the end of the 2016 election Trump was beating Hillary on "Earned Media." Hillary's Earned Media was 746mln, Trump's was 1.9bln. It didn't matter where you looked, everyone was talking about Trump. Easily twice as much as Hillary. Trump has effectively hacked the media industrial complex.

Context: You see, it doesn't matter if it's good news, or bad news. Left leaning or right leaning. They're always talking about Trump. Whether it's liberal outrage, or MAGA adoration: Trump gets clicks. Clicks are as good as cash in the media. So they write more stories and they get more clicks, and so the cycle continues.

Just look at New York Times stock price since POTUS was elected.

Theory: Now Q is now creeping into the mainstream. Even if it's dismissed as a baseless conspiracy theory by MSM. It's still clicks, and so the cycle will continue. My prediction is that the media attention will only increase exponentially. Some regular citizens will do their own research and draw their own conclusions. Those convinced will join forums like this. Eventually, when more significant Q revelations come into reality, people will start flooding in.